Maha Govt Names Sanjay Kumar as Chief Secretary, Predecessor Ajoy Mehta Becomes CM's Advisor

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday appointed senior bureaucrat Sanjay Kumar as the new chief secretary.

Kumar will succeed Ajoy Mehta, who, post retirement on June 30, will take over as principal advisor to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, a new position created in the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis.

Kumar, who is currently Additional Chief Secretary in the housing department and also holds the additional charge of the home department, will take up his new assignment on July 1, an official statement said.

Mehta, who retires on June 30 after decades-long bureaucratic career, had been given two extensions as chief secretary earlier. The 1984-batch IAS officer will take charge of his new assignment on July 1.

A statement from Thackeray's office said Mehta has been given a new office in the Chief Minister's secretariat on the 6th floor of Mantralaya.

The statement said the decision to have a principal advisor to the CM has been taken in view ofthe challenges faced by the state due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The need of the hour was to have an experienced hand in the Chief Minister's Office, it said. 

Mehta's appointment will help in expediting economic and administrative activities in the post-COVID-19 era and attract industrial investment in the state, the statement said.